Guys, need some legal advice

[snusgetter]

Let me slightly amend my comment:

Hopefully for Californians he has some answers now to the right problems
and the wherewithal to effect the necessary changes.

Still OT
Hey, how about Arnold ... I understand he's getting ready for a new Terminator
adventure but now he'll be going about in slow motion. Advancing age ..... or
the toll of running the state of California?

[Snusdog]

1. Call the loan company that holds the note see what they say

2. publish your post as an editorial in the paper (if you can include the names of the officers you spoke to do it) Also include that you thought your taxes paid them to do their job. You might also want to call the local news station (around here they love this kind of stuff- they'd have a truck down there interviewing the chief.........and keep flashing back to you looking all forlorn and screwed)

3. I would also call your state representative and the mayor's office and ask for help

4. Depending on how it goes with #1 an #3 I'd get a lawyer.


What they are doing is illegal and extortion.

You are paying an exorbitant fine..............for having your flipping bike stolen

[SmokedEuro]

Did you have full coverage on the bike? Cause if it isn't rideable and is totaled just send the adjuster down there and get paid out and pay off your loan. The insurance company should still be involved as they were insuring the bike at the time of the incident.

[Hanske]

And this is what ... his second -- or third -- time around?

Hopefully for Californians he has some answers now to the right problems.

I don't know the guy, but I saw it on the news. Hopefully he'll be better for the Californians.

[GoVegan]

I don't know the guy, but I saw it on the news. Hopefully he'll be better for the Californians.

Anybody who boinked Linda Ronstadt is OK in my book. She was smoking when she was younger!

[snusgetter]

Anybody who boinked Linda Ronstadt is OK in my book. She was smoking when she was younger!

Yeah but didn't he turn to the priesthood after her?
Or was that pre-Ronstadt?



btw, her backup group was called Stone Poneys for a good reason.
Maybe that's why she's now a nun!!



Whoops --- wrong habit!

[sgreger1]

You're both from California. If you had stopped the crazy bodybuilding Austrian to become your governor, this shit might not have happened. You can be happy you have that new guy... Was it Jerry Brown?

The new guy is actually our old governor that first ruined the state. Schwarzenneger wasn't great but he wasn't terrible either. He should have ran as an independent instead of a republican, since he did the opposite of republican things for most of the time.


Brown is going to make this a million times worse I guarantee you.

[f. bandersnatch]

This is ridiculous. I would second all opinions about calling a lawyer, but then again, you would have to pay said lawyer. I would call anyone you know that is even remotely involved in the repossession/towing business and ask them about it. If you don't find any good info there, I would suggest trying to bribe the person at the front counter of the tow lot.

I also liked wicked's idea and I think that might be the best way to get out of this in the black, assuming that you were fully covered (which I can understand if you were not, its a gd motorcycle for godsake).

[sgreger1]

Did you have full coverage on the bike? Cause if it isn't rideable and is totaled just send the adjuster down there and get paid out and pay off your loan. The insurance company should still be involved as they were insuring the bike at the time of the incident.

There is no insurance on the bike. It has been sitting in a garage for the last year. If it was insured than none of this would be a problem. To get theft insurance here was $600 a month, that's opposed to liability coverage which is $345 for the whole year.

[SmokedEuro]

Oh yea i know all about that. Theft insurance is almost the total price of the bike for me after 2 years. I'd do as snusdog said and raise hell.

[blotgode]

I invite you to the Kingdom of Norway. This woun't be a problem here.

hmm, is it possible that you are related to Petter Northug....

[blotgode]

I have been scammed by the government. I need to know if anyone has any advice for how to move forward.


1) My motorcycle was stolen.
2) I reported it to the police
3) Almost 2 weeks pass
4) They find my motorcycle


So they call me and tell me the motorcycle has been found, and that I have to come pick it up in San Francisco, but have to get the release form from the police first by 3pm. So I take off work and drive there.



Listen to this BS: So after finding the motorcycle, instead of calling me (the owner) to pick it up like is their protocol, they immediately had it towed to AutoReturn, which is the towing company that San Francisco contracts with.

So anyways, I called them to help me find my stolen vehicle, and all they did was go find it first and then hold it ransom for $500.

That's right, they want $500 to pick up MY stolen vehicle. But that' not it, there is a $200 "administrative" paperwork charge as well. And the fees compound daily of course.


BUT THAT'S NOT IT. They then said that even if I paid the money I cannot have the bike back. I have to insure it before I can get it, even though it is a broken and inoperable motorcycle which I am towing out on a truck. I have to buy insurance for it, and then come back on monday. So at a minimum, I have to pay the $450 per day every day until monday, and take more days off work (which I can't do).

But that's not it either. I also paid my registration on the bike about a month ago, but the franchise tax board hasn't communicated that into the "system" or something according to them, so even though I have proof that I paid it, it doesn't matter to them until THEIR system updates, which they say can take several weeks.

So because of their paperwork BS, and because they are slow to talk to each other, I have to let my bike sit in the impound accruing hundreds of dollars a day in fees. I cannot pay these fees, and was told that I would have to leave it there until the city can lien sell the 11,000 motorcycle to recoup the $700 fee they charge for finding your stolen vehicle.







So they went out and found my stolen vehicle and are now holding it for ransom. And because of their paperwork BS, I cannot get the bike out. Because I can't get the bike out, the fees rack up daily and I have no way of paying them. I talked to every manager I could and all they did was be rude and tell me how they are within their rites to hold my car until I pay them their excessive fees that compound daily.



So now they are selling my bike just to pay for the $700 "found your stolen vehicle" fee, and I am stuck with the 10,000 loan still.



What can I do? I cannot believe it is legal for them to find a stolen vehicle and then charge you hundreds and hundreds of dollars to get it back, even when they force you to keep it there for longer due to THEIR paperwork error.


I think I am going to set up a website like SFTOWINGSCAM.COM or something and try to gather others who have been forced to sell their car because of a parking ticket or because of some BS paperwork error that wasn't your fault. Then file a class action lawsuit or something. That's what happened to the last guys who contracted with the city, they lost 50 million for a similar scam.

Legal advice...hmmm....sorry

[Frosted]

This sounds like a nightmare - I feel your WTF Sgreger.

[GoVegan]

The new guy is actually our old governor that first ruined the state. Schwarzenneger wasn't great but he wasn't terrible either. He should have ran as an independent instead of a republican, since he did the opposite of republican things for most of the time.


Brown is going to make this a million times worse I guarantee you.

You can't be serious. Schwarzenneger said he wanted to run because Gray Davis ignored the energy crisis, raised vehicle registration fees and stripped our schools of funding. Well, my utility bills have gone up, my vehicle registration fee has increased and the last school my kid went to was completely closed due to funding. Please tell me why the conservatives in this state wanted to have that very expensive recall? Now, I do think that things are going to get much worse under Brown that will be because the legislature and the governor decided to play 3 card monte with the budget for several years and now we have to deal with reality. The only card the Republicans have now is to veto any tax increase and then bitch about services being cut and hurting our communities. What makes it funny, is that the areas that tend to vote conservative also receive the most tax breaks and subsidies per capita. I like the whole idea of less government and careful spending but the Republicans do the opposite of what they preach. I saw an article on Yahoo recently showing that Ron Paul won a straw vote for president but I can guarantee you that the conservatives will never back Ron Paul when it really counts. I used to work with this guy who just loved Rush Limbaugh. He felt that welfare should be abolished and that you were going to hell is you were not a Christian. What made it comical is that his wife is disabled (in a wheelchair) and he was getting money from the state to help care for her. That seems to be the epitome of the Republican party these days.

[sgreger1]

You can't be serious. Schwarzenneger said he wanted to run because Gray Davis ignored the energy crisis, raised vehicle registration fees and stripped our schools of funding. Well, my utility bills have gone up, my vehicle registration fee has increased and the last school my kid went to was completely closed due to funding. Please tell me why the conservatives in this state wanted to have that very expensive recall? Now, I do think that things are going to get much worse under Brown that will be because the legislature and the governor decided to play 3 card monte with the budget for several years and now we have to deal with reality. The only card the Republicans have now is to veto any tax increase and then bitch about services being cut and hurting our communities. What makes it funny, is that the areas that tend to vote conservative also receive the most tax breaks and subsidies per capita. I like the whole idea of less government and careful spending but the Republicans do the opposite of what they preach. I saw an article on Yahoo recently showing that Ron Paul won a straw vote for president but I can guarantee you that the conservatives will never back Ron Paul when it really counts. I used to work with this guy who just loved Rush Limbaugh. He felt that welfare should be abolished and that you were going to hell is you were not a Christian. What made it comical is that his wife is disabled (in a wheelchair) and he was getting money from the state to help care for her. That seems to be the epitome of the Republican party these days.

Yah you won't see me defending republicans, especially not California republicans. Schwarzenneger still wasn't terrible, he was a spineless pushover who did almost nothing for the republicans, and the things he did do sucked. He decriminalized weed which was cool (in his last 10 minutes in office), and some other stuff, but overall his terms were unremarkable. You can go ahead and blame democrats as well for those increase in fees and utilities. The democrats constantly protest against clean energy sources just like the republicans, so we are always stuck with the same shit. And voters are the ones who voted in a lot of these fees or who voted out a lot of the fees/tax increases. They will have to deal with cuts if they vote to lower taxes. I would rather see cuts because it would be irresponsible to allow the state to raise taxes again. Once they raise them by say 5%, they just start spending 6% more, so raising taxes will not help our situation even in the slightest.


San Francisco is by far the biggest expense in regards to the welfare system. I think it is horrible what they have done to these poor people, just handing out free money and healthcare has devastated the community in san francisco,and more people than ever are just wandering the streets committing crime and doing drugs on the taxpayers dollar. I have a family member that is like this too, I mean the guy is a repeat criminal and gets arrested weekly, but he still gets his SSI for being "crazy" (read as meth-addict) and welfare as well (which is how he pays for it). I think it needs to be reformed, we need to have an honest welfare system for people who need a helping hand, if you just make it a system where we pay them a check once a month, it will lead to people not looking for work and everyone just sleeping outside or in absolutely filled-to-the-max homeless shelters like in San Francisco.


Anyways, I have nothing good to say about CA republicans at all, they are responsible for the tax increases we saw int he past few years, especially this one **** in sacramento who got elected on the platform of "I will not allow taxes to raise" and then immediately signed off on raising them. Bunch of turncoat bastards if you ask me. But I have 0 faith in brown. His thinking is all off right from the get go, he is basing his whole plan around the assumption that californians will vote for a tax raise (which they will not, as we have repeatedly shot it down over the past few years). His plan will fail since it seems to hinge on raising taxes or cutting money from schools and cops. Both of those ideas won't work, therefore his plan will fail just like the governators plan failed before him.


I am actively saving to get out of this state, none of this will be fixed in my lifetime and I have a kid I have to raise. Most people my age are unemployed, way under-employed, or unable to find a job that pays enough for an apartment, and college costs more than any normal person could afford here. Gotta get out ASAP before me daughter grows up.